The Year of the Fire Horse is almost upon us, galloping onto the scene on the next New Moon. This is a “Double Fire” year, carrying the invitation and the opportunity for dynamic changes, transmutation and transformation – and explosive power, if we are prepared for it.
The Snake Year that is currently drawing to a close has pushed us to shed our skins and release that which no longer fits, so that we can shine bright with the essential Fire energies of this Year of the Fire Horse.
I’m so excited for the unbridled, wild and untameable energies of this coming year – but the Fire Horse has not always been welcome. Indeed, individuals born in Fire Horse years were painted as ungovernable (yay!), reckless and dangerous – precisely because of their independent nature, fiery will and authentic expression of their truest selves. And none were more stigmatised than Fire Horse women.
Year of the Fire Horse StigmaWomen born in the Year of the Fire Horse were shunned as wives – seen as too wild, too free and too full of passion. Female foetuses were aborted, and unlucky “accidents” befell female babies. The lucky ones had their birth years misattributed to the neighbouring years. This data is clearly documented in the 1966 birthrate in Japan, which dropped by a staggering 25%.
Why are these qualities of passion, self-authority and living one’s truest impulses so feared? I have some thoughts. And I also believe that this coming 2026 Year of the Fire Horse is a potent opportunity for all of us – Fire Horse or not, woman or not – to embody even more of our most wild, essential selves. To be guided by our hearts and souls – both aspects of the Fire element.
In this episode, we discuss:• what IS the Year of the Fire Horse, and why is it so potent – and so feared?
• how to harness and align with the explosive energies of this year
• how urgently the qualities the Fire Horse are needed in our modern world
• are we being a vessel for “Shen” (Spirit, ruled by Fire)… or a vessel for AI?
• habits to balance the Double Fire year with simple habits & rituals (and a Feng Shui tip)
One of the practices that is so important in grounded and capacitating these powerful Fire Horse energies is Qi Gong – literally, “energy work”. I have created a beautiful, self-paced experience that guides you through energy work practices in just 10 minutes a day. Open up the flow in your meridians, alchemise blocks, unlock the secrets of your energy centres (chakras), charge up your Qi and tune up your biofield – so that you can best harness these powerful energies coming our way. Learn more here.
Transcript
(0:04) Hi everyone, welcome to the Balanced Natural Health podcast where we share (0:09) insights from the ancient science and timeless wisdom of Chinese medicine. (0:13) Information from the old natural ways of healing can support us in leading more (0:18) beautiful, more vibrant and more vital lives today. In this podcast I share (0:23) simple, natural and accessible tips that you can incorporate into your everyday (0:28) life for more vibrant health and wellness. I’m so glad you’re here. (0:32)
Hello beautiful beings and welcome to episode 49 of the podcast. I’m Dr. Maz and in today’s (0:40) episode I would like to dive into something really timely and very exciting because as (0:45) many of you may know we are about to head into a new lunar year.
The Chinese New Year is (0:53) coming up. It begins on February the 17th here in Australia and this year upcoming is a really (1:01) exciting, powerful, dynamic one. It’s ripe with possibility and opportunity and it is the year (1:08) of the fire horse.
I’m just so excited about the energy that’s about to come through and how (1:14) we’ve been getting ready for this new power that’s going to pour through us with the snake year that (1:20) we’ve just been through. So we’ve just been through a shedding of skins, releasing of anything(1:25) that might be clouding or dimming our power and the way it shines through us and this has all (1:32) been in service to clear the way for the wild, untamable power of the fire horse. So in today’s (1:39) episode we will talk about why this is such a powerful year, what it means for feminine power, (1:46) the rising of the deep, wild, sacred, untamed feminine within all of us because we all contain (1:53) at least a seed of the masculine and the feminine.
We’re going to talk about what that means for (1:59) reclaiming our essential, truest, most vibrant expression of selves. We will also talk about how (2:06) we can best support ourselves to capacitate the flow of this powerful energy in this fire horse (2:13) year. So things to look out for and practices that we can put into place to ground and hold (2:20) this huge influx, this surge of fire horse energy that’s coming our way.
And maybe you’re tapping (2:26) into this energy as well, perhaps you’re feeling like it’s been a weird kind of stop start or not (2:32) quite start to the Gregorian calendar and maybe you’re feeling an upwelling of excitement or (2:38) something’s really brewing and that is the fire horse year that is coming. So first of all, (2:44) let’s take a look at what is the horse year and what is the fire horse year. So in the Chinese (2:52) view of the world and in the Chinese calendar perspective, we have a 60 year calendar.
It’s (2:59) a beautiful calendar called the Heavenly Stems and the Earthly Branches. And this calendar has (3:06) been used for millennia to map climate cycles, weather patterns, to harness the best harvest, (3:15) to best align ourselves with the environment, because in Chinese medicine, we acknowledge that (3:20) we are woven into the web of life all around us. And so knowing how we can balance ourselves to (3:27) be in the best alignment with the prevailing energies of the climate and the weather for (3:33) each particular year is really beneficial.
This is something that has been honed to a fine art. (3:39) So the 60 year calendar is based on the 10 Heavenly Stems and the 12 Earthly Branches. (3:47) So there’s 12 animals.
These are the 12 Earthly Branches. And this is where we get animals like the (3:55) snake, which we’re having this year, or which we’re just wrapping up, and the horse which is (4:00) coming up. So each of the 12 animals have unique attributes.
So for example, the snake likes to (4:07) stay quiet, close to the ground. It’s really tuned into frequency and vibration. And it is well known (4:15) for its ability to shed skins.
And the horse, in contrast, is full of dynamic bursting forth. So (4:24) the horse is known for its energy, its love of movement, its freedom, its independence, and (4:32) generally enthusiastic and outgoing nature, and so on for all of the other 12 animals. So we’ve got (4:39) the 12 Earthly Branches and the 10 Heavenly Stems.
The 10 Heavenly Stems are based on a yin and (4:46) yang version of each of the five elements. So the five elements are a really key way in which we (4:52) describe the world in Chinese medicine and Taoist medicine, Taoist thought. So the five elements are (4:59) fire, earth, metal, water, and wood.
And for each of these, we have a yin and yang counterparts. (5:06) We’ve got yang fire and yin fire within the Heavenly Stems. So what happens is we have 12 (5:13) animals, but we have a 60 year cycle.
Each of the animals gets a go in one of the five elements. (5:21) So you might be wondering, hang on a minute, there’s 12 animals and 10 Heavenly Stems, which (5:27) would make 120, not 60, and you are correct. But there is a rule that only yang stems get (5:34) matched with yang branches, so animals that are yang, and yin stems, so yin type elements, get (5:41) matched with yin branches, so yin animals.
Now in the case of the horse, the horse has a yang nature (5:48) because it likes to move, it likes to be dynamic, to move explosively, it likes to run free, it has (5:55) a really fiery active energy. And in addition to that, the horse is ruled by fire. So no matter (6:03) what element it falls in, the element associated with horse is fire.
So this year, when the horse (6:11) falls into the fire element, we have double fire. So there is potential for so much transmutation, (6:20) transformation, alchemizing so much, because fire is the element of transformation. It turns one (6:27) thing into another, it’s dynamic, it’s full of energy, it’s the life force within all of us.
(6:33) And this is why this year holds so much power for all of us, whether we’re a fire horse or not. (6:39) There is an opportunity to claim this wild untameable power within us all for ourselves.(6:47) And the fire horse is the most dynamic of all the horses.
In another 12 years, we’ll have (6:54) the earth horse year, and the element of earth moderates that fiery yang nature of the horse (7:01) that is innate to the horse anyway. So earth horses are said to be more grounded. For example, a water (7:08) horse will be more balanced than a fire horse in as far as their dynamism goes, because water and (7:15) fire have a polarity, they balance each other out.
So if someone is a water horse, they will possibly (7:22) be less impulsive, explosive, dynamic than a fire horse. Now, because of its double fire nature, (7:29) there’s been a lot of stigma around people born in the fire horse year over the centuries, and (7:35) particularly women. So because of the nature of society that liked women to be biddable and meek (7:43) and submissive and to surrender to the will of others, and particularly in a society that valued (7:51) collectivism, I guess, and submission to authority, then anyone who stood in their wild, (7:58) untameable, self-sovereign self-authority was a threat to that system, and none more so than women.
(8:06) And tragically, for centuries, female babies were either aborted when they were due to be born in a (8:14) fire horse year. If they were lucky, their birth was misattributed to the year before or after to (8:20) make them more marriageable, or they might have fallen prey to unlucky accidents or infanticide. (8:28) So there’s actually some pretty chilling data looking at the rate of infant deaths due to (8:36) accidents in the fire horse year, and there was definitely a spike in that.
So that was looking (8:41) at the data in Japan in 1966. And we can also look at a really fascinating bit of data from Japan (8:49) from 1966, where we see that the birth rate actually dropped by 25%. So this is either due (8:56) to people holding off on having a baby that year because they didn’t want to risk perhaps a female (9:03) child being born as a fire horse, which would ruin her prospects of marriage because fire horse women (9:09) were seen to be unlucky wives.
Or it could have also been due to misattribution of that birth year (9:17) to the year before and after. So you can have a look at the data, it’s very clear. There’s been (9:22) quite a few articles about what’s going to happen in Japan in this new fire horse year, given what (9:28) happened in 1966.
When you actually look at the population chart by birth year, it’s really quite (9:34) striking. And I think this is why it’s so important, more than ever this year with this fire (9:42) horse energy coming in, that we all step into and claim this wild, untameable essence of ourselves, (9:50) this wild truth, this self-sovereignty, self-governance, self-authority that runs within (9:57) all of us, whether we’re a fire horse or not, whether we’re a woman or not. I think that this (10:03) is so desperately needed in our modern society where we have externalised our power, we’ve given(10:11) away our authority to systems outside of us and we’ve forgotten, some of us, that we all carry this (10:20) spark, this stream of the divine within us.
We all can connect to that at any moment and that can (10:27) give us direction, that can give us vital information. And I feel that this reclamation (10:34) and remembrance of this force that is within us all, the force that is the wild and untameable, (10:44) truest essence of ourselves, and it could be described also because it’s the deepest part, (10:50) it’s the yin and the feminine part of ourselves in a way, it’s that which has been hidden or suppressed. (10:57) And I feel that this is never more important than now to be expressed and reclaimed for this aspect (11:05) of ourselves to be reclaimed because for too long now we have been living an unbalanced way of life (11:12) and we revere one way of being at the total denigration of another.
We revere the (11:21) intellect and rational thought and logic and yet we have denigrated and forgotten about and (11:28) belittled the value of instinct and intuition or body wisdom and felt senses. And I love that we’re (11:37) talking more and more about the power that comes from these senses and impulses and information (11:45) that we get from our nervous system. We are so much more than our intellectual mind and when we (11:53) are only operating from one half of ourselves, we’re only operating at partial power.
But when (11:59) we combine the yin and yang aspects of ourselves, we have access to the totality of our power, (12:05) the totality of our essence. So this means giving space to honouring our feelings over always our (12:12) thoughts. It means honouring our deepest desires over the external shoulds of society or our (12:20) communities or expectations.
It means honouring our own needs and speaking up even when it might (12:28) go against societal norms. It means also honouring that which is of the body and giving the body (12:38) space as well to share its wisdom with us. So not just living in the mind but actually listening (12:45) to the whispers of the body and soul.
And also it means honouring and giving space to the living (12:52) over the dead. And I’ll explain a little bit more about this. So in Chinese medicine we understand (12:59) that each of the five elements also rules an aspect of consciousness.
And in the case of the (13:05) fire element, it rules the shen, which is translated loosely as our present awareness, (13:14) our consciousness, our spirit. So it’s how much spark of life someone has in their eyes when (13:22) you look at them. So you can see that you’re connecting to something beyond the physical.
(13:27) So you’re seeing that spark of the divine in someone’s eyes. And everything that we do in(13:32) Chinese medicine is about cultivating our shen, cultivating all aspects of self. But certainly(13:37) we are looking to cultivate our shen so that we can be living as the truest, most vital expression (13:43) of ourselves.
And this brings me to my point. So many forecasts for the Firehorse 2026 year talk (13:51) about the rise of AI because it relates to energy, which relates to in the modern day electricity, (13:58) internet technology. But while this may be true, and while we are certainly seeing that AI tools(14:06) are exploding everywhere, I think that at the same time we are having a massive influx of(14:14) energetic power coming through our consciousness if we are available for that.
And so that means (14:20) actually allowing time for cultivation of our presence and our awareness, our consciousness, (14:26) our attention, and not just giving it all up to AI. So I know that there can be some valuable (14:33) time-saving tools that come from AI. But also I think that when we rely on AI for expression, (14:42) we lose that sense of aliveness that comes through in our own authentic voice, (14:48) our own authentic expression, because that is also part of the element of fire.
(14:52) And it might not be perfect. It might have spelling mistakes, grammatical errors, (14:57) but it’s true and essential, wild and untameable. And I think we’ve all seen the absolute flood of (15:06) AI content everywhere.
And so much of it feels lifeless and dead. And I think that this year (15:13) is an opportunity for all of us to be vessels for this divine force of Shen spirit consciousness (15:21) that is coming through us and to cultivate that through practices like meditation, Qigong, (15:29) even contemplation. So sitting outside and contemplating a tree or having a slow (15:37) meditative grounding walk outside, connecting to that energy, that living energy that is all (15:43) around us, getting our feet on the earth, putting our face to the sun, charging up with that (15:50) life force energy.
It can also be things like observing our own impulses and getting curious (16:00) and getting to know ourselves more deeply so that we can start to clear out conditioning (16:07) and allow our truest self to shine through and flow through. And this is where the snake year (16:14) has been such a gift because it’s been a continual, for me anyway, sloughing off of (16:20) old skins of looking at where I was still in old habits of giving away my power externally, (16:28) rather than looking to that wild untameable source within. And also perhaps limiting habits (16:36) of thought, limiting perception.
So all of those, or many of those, I’m sure there might be others (16:42) lurking in the corner were challenged and were able to be shared. And there’s still time for all (16:47) of us to do this in the next few weeks as well. So you might be actually experiencing this for (16:51) yourself as well.
Maybe there’s old triggers coming up, things that felt like that you feel (16:57) like you might have already dealt with in the past, and yet they’ve resurfaced again. So I feel (17:02) like we’re actually going through a really a purge at really the deepest levels as we are readying (17:08) ourselves for this influx of double fire energy that is coming our way. Now in Chinese medicine(17:16) and Taoist medicine, Taoist thought, we are all about balance and moderation and the middle path.
(17:24) And so a double fire year, a double yang year, like we are having upcoming in the fire horse(17:31) year, can bring with it really strong energies that require moderation and grounding so that we (17:38) can absorb the best of them and so that we don’t get burnt up in the flames. So if we were to go (17:45) straight out of the gate into the fire horse year without grounding and anchoring, we could become (17:51) burnt out. Or an aspect of the fire element when it’s imbalanced is mania.
It’s like this (17:58) ungrounded mental energy, someone talking a million miles an hour, or maybe laughing (18:04) inappropriately, jumping around with thoughts. So it’s going to be really important as these energies (18:11) come through with the fire horse year to bring a moderation and capacitance to hold those energies. (18:20) So this will be things like a daily grounding practice, like a somatic body practice, moving (18:27) practice to open up and course and flow the meridians in the body so that our circuitry (18:35) is well primed to receive that influx of energies.
I like to think of the work that we do with (18:43) cultivating our qi and grounding our qi in work like qigong, or slow walking meditation, (18:49) seated meditation, any kind of contemplation, getting into Mother Nature. All of this work (18:56) is about connecting with our earthly vessel, so that we can provide a container for that energy to (19:04) come through us. So the more grounded we are, the more of that beautiful fire energy we can actually (19:10) receive and work with in a productive way so we don’t get burned up.
And I think of this like (19:16) shoring up the banks of a river, so that if there is big flow coming through, it can contain it. (19:24) And this is why we do these daily cultivation practices of qi, because they are a way of, (19:31) rather than having to be controlled externally, it’s a way of internally cultivating that flow (19:39) so that we can hold more of that power and become more powerful, more vital, more vibrant, (19:45) more radiant, and we can use that towards our enduring health as well. And so the extent to (19:53) which we can ground and hold these energies of the Fire Horse here, will also in part dictate (20:00) how much of that energy we have available to launch our own dreams and passions and desires (20:06) this year to manifest them into physical reality.
It will give us the power to create changes if we (20:14) want to, to transmute into a newer version of ourselves if that’s what we choose, and just to (20:21) hold more of that energy for our own personal power and our own self-expression. Now I mentioned (20:29) before that the fire element shares a polarity with the water element, so that’s one of the (20:34) fundamental balancing polarities of Chinese medicine. So in this coming year we can bring (20:41) in more water into our lives, so maybe it’s swimming, surfing, being around bodies of water, (20:49) maybe just bringing more awareness to how we connect to our water.
I’ve talked a lot about (20:55) structured water and the information carrying capacity of water in other episodes, so you can (21:00) have a listen to those. But perhaps it’s a more intentional connection to the water already in (21:07) our lives, and it’s also about bringing qualities of water to this year. So water is still, it’s (21:16) steady, it’s slow, it’s persistent, whereas fire likes to flare quickly, it likes to create rapid (21:24) change, it’s impulsive.
And so this year it’s about also bringing moderation or just checking (21:31) ourselves with impulses. And also it’s about balancing out periods of productivity and speed (21:39) and dynamism with periods of slowness. And this is definitely a note to self because I am a horse,(21:45) I have a habit of getting carried away when the energies are there.
And it’s a reminder that this (21:51) year, as every year, it’s a marathon not a sprint. So it’s a reminder to rest before you’re tired, (21:58) to put little periods of rest and stillness, those periods of the water element throughout (22:03) the day, so that you can then have more access to lasting aspects of that fire energy. And again, (22:11) grounding, getting your feet on the earth, getting your body on the earth.
And it might be a beautiful (22:17) time to get started on a Qi Gong practice if you haven’t got one already. And this is why I created (22:23) my beautiful Qi Gong program coming home to you in preparation for this powerful year so that we (22:30) can really work with these energies and ground them into our earthly bodies. So it’s a beautiful, (22:36) simple, accessible program, just 10 minutes a day.
We go through a seven day sequence looking at the (22:44) secrets of each energy center and the different Qi Gong flows that cultivate our Qi, our energy (22:50) for that center. And then we put it all together in a beautiful flow. And we go deeper into two (22:57) other classic Qi Gong sets as well.
So it doesn’t have to take a lot of time, but the benefits are (23:03) profound. And the more regularly we practice it and over the longer term, as we practice it, (23:08) the more benefits we reap, you can actually feel that energy moving through your meridians. So (23:15) that invitation is there for you.
The Fire Horse Year is a beautiful time to get into this practice. (23:22) So that’s on my website at drmaz.earth. And before I wrap up, one other hint from (23:29) some feng shui practitioners about how to moderate fire energies of this year is to bring more water (23:38) and metal element into your space. So the color of water is a deep blue or a black.
So we might (23:46) bring in these colors in our clothes or in our environment. And the metal element is associated (23:52) generally with white, but also with metal textures like gold or silver. So these can be colors or (23:59) textures that we can bring into our surroundings or into our wardrobe, into our awareness, (24:04) into our meditations and visualizations, even to balance out those impulsive, powerful qualities (24:12) of this Double Fire Year.
I hope this has been interesting, enlightening, exciting perhaps. I (24:20) think that this coming year is just such a powerful portal for reclaiming that wild, untamed nature (24:28) within all of us. So I’m wishing you all the very best for this coming year.
Please feel free to (24:34) share this episode if you found it interesting, and I look forward to seeing you in the next episode.
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